Alberta Highway 40

Highway 40 is a south–north highway in western Alberta, Canada.^[3] It is also named Bighorn Highway and Kananaskis Trail in Kananaskis Country. Its segmented sections extend from Coleman in the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass northward to the City of Grande Prairie and is currently divided into four sections.^[4][5]

The southernmost section is gravel; it runs for 3.8 km (2.4 mi) through the Municipality of Crowsnest Pass, where it then becomes the Forestry Trunk Road to Highway 541,^[4] which has a combined length of 106 km (66 mi).^[1]

The second section of Highway 40 is Kananaskis Trail, which is paved and runs through Kananaskis Country for 105 km (65 mi) from Highway 541, over Highwood Pass, and through Peter Lougheed Provincial Park and Spray Valley Provincial Park. The highway passes Kananaskis Village before terminating at the Trans-Canada Highway (Highway 1).^[1]

The third section is gravel and is part of the Forestry Trunk Road, which runs 46 km (29 mi) from Highway 1A to Highway 579.^[1] The highway continues as the Forestry Trunk Road and Highway 734 for approximately 293 km (182 mi), through the Rocky Mountains Forest Reserve. The intention is that one day the entire road will be a continuous paved highway. In the past, other gravel sections were named Highway 940; the 900 series in Alberta is used for temporary names. There is no signed connection between the Kananaskis Trail section and the Forestry Trunk Road section; however, it is connected by using Highway 1, Highway 1X, and Highway 1A between Seebe and Ghost Lake.

The fourth section is 443 km (275 mi) and runs from the Lovett River in Yellowhead County to the City of Grande Prairie. The 61 km (38 mi) section south of Cadomin is gravel while the remainder is paved. The highway shares 2 km (1.2 mi) concurrency with the Yellowhead Highway (Highway 16), before continuing north and passing through the Hamlet of Grande Cache en route to Grande Prairie.^[1]

In Grande Prairie, Highway 40 becomes 108 Street. It formerly terminated at 100 Avenue where it met Highway 43;^[5] however, when Highway 43X was completed in 2019,^[6] the Highway 43 designation was moved to the new bypass and the Highway 40 designation was applied to 100 Avenue to connect to the new Highway 43 alignment, extending Highway 40 by 7.5 km (4.7 mi).^[7]

A section of what is today Alberta Highway 501 on the south edge of the province, running between Cardston and Whiskey Gap was originally designated as Highway 40 prior to the 1970s. A further section of roadway marked Old Highway 40 runs south of Highway 501 from a junction south of Taylorville, and runs to the U.S. border. The only location of note along this roadway is a stone monument to Mormon settlers.

The Province of Alberta is planning a bypass of southwestern Grande Prairie that is currently designated as Highway 40X.^[5] The route is to start at Highway 40, between the Wapiti River and Highway 668, and link to Highway 43 on the city's western edge.^[8] The Functional planning was completed in 2010 but construction still is unfunded.^[9]

Starting from the south end of Highway 40:

• Highway 40 crossing Wapiti River south of Grande Prairie
• Highway 40 in Grande Cache
• Bighorn Highway, westbound, east of Grande Cache
• Highway 734 through the Foothills, southbound, north of Nordegg
• Kananaskis Trail, southbound through the Canadian Rockies in Kananaskis Country
• Kananaskis Trail at Highwood Pass